Since 2002, new volunteers in OSU Extension youth programs â€” including roughly 20,000 4-H advisers and Master Gardener volunteers across the state â€” have been required to have an Ohio Bureau of Criminal Activity fingerprint and background check. The new policy now requires all students, staff and volunteers working in these programs to be fingerprinted every four years.

â€ś2014 was an interesting year to be a farmer â€” the farm bill passed, the property tax increased and the price of corn fell, and Toledo had no water for three days. That means 2015 will be a critical year to be a farmer advocate. Now is the time to deliver our farmer advocate message and deliver it loudly,â€ť said Steve Hirsch, OFBF president

According to surveys, about half of all farmworkers in the country lack legitimate documents and live in what's often described as a "shadow world," without legal rights. The farmers who employ those workers, meanwhile, are deeply ambivalent about this situation.